OCTOBER 1, 1913 



681 



Apiary of J. F. Davison, Unionville, Ont., showing the removable portico for winter protection. 



pieces of iron turned to one side and the 

 portico ready to lift off the hive. These 

 porticos have been used in this apiary for 

 a number of years, and are as good as any 

 thing I have ever seen for the purpose in- 

 tended. 



Note the nearness of buildings — apiary 

 right in the center of a village, which shows 

 careful handling on Mr. Davison's part, as 

 the bees have been there for many years. 



Mt. Joy, Ont., Canada. 



A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF WINTER AND 

 SUMMER SHEDS 



BY L, LIST 



The Jan. 15th issue contains a severe 

 criticism, p. 55, of the combined winter and 

 summer shed described by me Dec. 1, page 

 766. It never entered my mind that the 

 shed described should be the ne plus ultra 

 in wintering contrivances. It is, however, 

 quite satisfactory for a busy man who, be- 

 cause of other more pressing duties, can 

 not, like the professional, aim to get from 

 his bees " all there is in 'em." Of course it 

 has a few drawbacks. I do not use this 

 kind of shed myself, as Mr. G. could have 

 noticed by carefully going over my words. 

 I have regular cases for winter (see illus- 

 tration), and shade-boards for summer. 

 Still, I consider this shed of interest to 

 some of the thousands who read Gleanings. 

 Mr. Greiner himself, though he utterly con- 



demns the whole thing in some sentences, 

 and warns beginners not to adopt it, at sev- 

 eral other places offers suggestions how it 

 may be greatly improved. 



I still believe that many of our small bee- 

 keepers, especially in the country, would do 

 well if they, without much trouble to them- 

 selves, would protect their bees according 

 to Mr. Knoll's way. Mr. K. is a prosper- 

 ous, busy farmer, and only his spare mo- 

 ments can be devoted to bees. Thousands 

 of other beekeepers are in a similar posi- 

 tion. 



But let us look at a few of Mr. G.'s objec- 

 tions. He considers straw poor packing 

 material. For four successive seasons my 

 bees were packed that way, and during that 

 time but one colony, weakened by disease, 

 was lost. No kind of packing could have 

 saved it. Straw, by the way, comes through 

 the modern thrasher in pretty fine shape — ■ 

 plenty of chaff in it too. And if it were not 

 broken up, wouldn't it then give ns innu- 

 merable dead-air spaces between the hive- 

 body and the outer wall? Last year's win- 

 ter was certainly a most trying one. Mr, 

 K.'s bees came out in fine shape. So did 

 mine. Another objection : Hives can not be 

 easily manipulated. True, not so easily as 

 Avhen spread out in the open. But it can be 

 done fairly well. I went through every one 

 several times last summer, removing every 

 frame. I admit that the bees are likely to 

 be stirred up a little more than when they 

 are entirely separate. But Mr. G. himself 



